Thomas County cat., 1887-03-17

:he timbers of ships pierced wi b sword
fishes are by no means uncommon.
Ordinarily speaking. and as Tar as
naturalist opinions go, the swordfsh
appears to be peacaable enough.
When. however. the fish is ir-itated or
enraged its disposition because out
rageously fierce. Presumably it is then
that it vents its temper on the un-
offending timbers of ships. A certain
schooner. named the Volunteer, hailing
from the port of Gloucester. Mass.
found itself in the the neiehborho6d OF
Book Island. About four o'clock on
that day. the vessel reelrd from a sud-
den shock, which at fir: suggested th
possibility of having struck some
hidden reef. The weather was so
fine that the Volunteer was well
nigh becalmed, and fortunately
captain and crew had plenty
Of leisure and opportunity to take
things calmly in face of the mysterious
danger which threatened them. A
glance over the side of the vessel
suliiccd to reveal the cause of the
shock. A swordfish of large size was
seen in the acs of charging the ship
once again. 1t retreated, and then
rushing through the water renewed its
assault with great vigor. A boat was
quickly manned. and a harpooner duly
dispatched the assailant. which was
found to weigh three hundred pounds.
In due time the Volunteer was doched
at Gloucester when an inspection was
made of the vessels keel. 1t was then
found that about six feet from
the vessels stem. near the top
of the keel. the sword had
entered the wood, and had actually
broken four times rs the assault of the
fish was renewed. Four pieces of the
weapon were found embedded in the
keel The fish had thus used its dam
aged sword again and again in the
course Of its attack. and. oblivious of
hurt and pain. had sacrificed itself In
the pursuit of an utterly unjustifab!e
rage.
Tales of its caalbats with whales and
pOrpOises figure in natural history.
The swOrdfish charges the great sea
mammals and spears them with as
deadly thrust as ever harpooner gave.
The fish has the advantage in every
sense of the term. 1t is 1.-the. active
creature. and can attack the whale with
the same ease that light horseman
can poster and annoy u dragoon in
heavy marching order
The great narwhal enjoys the repu-
tation possessing the longest tooth in
the world. since this organ grows to
form twisted ivory pole. which may
occasionally attain Il length of nine or
ten feet. Thus armed the animal
would seem to pr sent much more
formidable front than the sword-fish
itsslf. Bat by all accounts. the sea-
unicorn is relatively quiet and peacea-
bic creature. by no means given
to attacking any thing or any
body, save perchance, as Dar-
win tells us. to engage in occasional
combats with its own rivals and with
its own kith and kin. AS far rs our in
formation extends. we fail to discover
any instance of narwhal using his
long tooth to probe the timbers of
ship. In olden times. the tooth was
much valued rs remedy against pois-
Oh; \ virtue, by the way. which the
horn of the mythical land-unicorn was
likewise believed to possess.
Baflin. of Baifin's Bay fame. wrote of
this animal. tina: lit being great fish.
having Il long horn or bone growing
forth of its forehead or nostril. such as
Sir Martin Frobisher in his second voy-
age found one. in diverse places we saw
them. which if the horne be of any good
value. no doubt that many of them may
he killed." In Hakluyt's Travels
Frobishcr himself describing the mar
whal. speaks of it as having ''in his
nose horne streight and torquet,
of length two yards lacking
two ynches." He then proceeds to
test his presumably medicinal powers.
being broken in the top. here we
might perceive it hollow, into which
some of our sailors putting spiders,
they presently died. Wisely. per-
haps. for the credit of his own narra-
tive, Sir Martin adds that he '.saw not
the tarill hereof. but it was reported
unto me of truth; by the virtue
whereof we supposed if to be the sea
un;corna."
This was rather curious fashion OF
Judging the character of an animal by
The effects of his horns upon innocent
spiders. and the tale smacks somewhat
of the Olans Magnus type after all.
The sword-fish and the narwhal, how.